Hero
by Soul of Ashes
Summary: A boy goes to the store every Tuesday looking forward to catching the eye of a secret super hero in red. Finally he gets the courage to say hello.


AU: Let's see how long I keep this going. It's some kind of random scene thing... I got the list of words from 50_scenes LiveJournal Community. You might find this shorty kinda cute. I warn you, it's not been really edited yet... but I thought I'd post something short and adorable and strange.

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1: Hero

The boy looked up from his mother's side as the man he had noticed walked by again. Just like last Tuesday, when his mother went to the store to get her money orders to pay her bills. It was the same as every week, for the past month. The first time the boy had stood at the counter at his mother's side, he had been embarassed as always that she kept her hand on his shoulder and the other pawing through her purse for the necessary paperwork to get her bills straightened out. Then he saw the odd man.

He walked in through the glass push door. The somewhat ancient little bell attached to the top jingled when it fell into place. And the boy followed the man's path across the check out area and toward the back, where the tall coolers stood containing frigid beverages. His eyes felt like they went as huge as saucers, taking in the confident stride, the bizarre attire which he wore so comfortably.

He wore different pants every Tuesday but he always wore that same red jacket - like it was a super suit, like super heroes wore on the cartoons he liked to watch. It was long and fluttered like a cape and every Tuesday, he resisted the urge to reach out and touch it as if he would get that coolness through the surface of his skin. But his mom's hand, when she saw the man in the red coat, clenched her fingers like talons into his shoulder when he entered. She made no effort to look at the man. But she always seemed to know he was going to come in, because she would grab his shirt tightly and bring him closer, protectively, just before he entered the store.

And just like every Tuesday, he always purchased the same two things: a six pack of cream soda and a bag of nacho flavored potato chips.

This Tuesday he would get a chance to talk to the man. He would ask him if he could wear that coat. He had gotten up all the courage he would need, in spite of the teasing of the kids who thought he would never dare. But this was a challenge he set for himself. This boy belonged to an entirely different world.

With the same charismatic spirit all children possess, he suddenly squirmed to look around and finally he pointed, piping up brightly. "Mom! Can I have some candy? That chocolate bar over there?" He pointed along the edge of the check out counter, all the way toward the end. "Please?"

The mother looked suddenly shocked and warmed that he had asked. Because the boy was a good boy, who never asked for anything, except for today. So for the rare instance when he really wanted something, the mother seemed to consider the risk of indulging him this one time. What was the harm?

"Go get it then, honey. Bring it up to the counter."

The boy walked down the check out counter. He walked slowly but not too slowly. The floor was a square patterned linoleum floor, scored and cracked in some places with age and disuse. But it was at least clean. He stared at the aisle from which the man in the red jacket always emerged victorious with his bag of chips and his six pack of soda. He heard his footsteps. The cool jangle of the metal bits on his jacket and the rest of his outfit.

"Jimmy, hurry up, please? Mommy's _very_ tired and she wants to get home so we can get to work on dinner together. Okay?"

Jimmy's heartbeats quicken and he rapidly grabs a candy bar at random and turns around. Then, his heart leaps for joy and he beams at the man. He realizes just how tall this man is. Just like a super hero. They were always so tall and so cool. And the white hair swayed like a curtain of snow, bejeweled with rain from outside. Water dripped from his nose and his jacket. But he didn't care if the jacket was wet.

His numb fingers were still stupidly holding onto the candy bar and he was about to speak when his mother suddenly swooped down upon him like a barred owl.

"Ready, honey?" she asked in a quavering voice. Like the odd, distant song of a lonely bird.

Jimmy, against his child-like instinct to leave off his quest, summoned one more ounce of courage. "H-Hi, mister. What's your name?"

"Jimmy!" His mother was torn between exasperation, fear and helpless rage. "Jimmy, you don't talk to strangers!"

"But you're here with me, mom! You're here, so I can talk to him, right?"

Mom now looked a little chagrined. This was true. But she looked at the man in the red coat, who had stopped and now looked from mother to child with a half-formed smile. He had his prizes and had no other reason to stay locked between this mother-son conflict. He waited, though. Looking right at the boy, who looked dazzled as though by stars.

"All... All right. Please," she directed at the man. "Excuse my son. I don't know what's gotten into him." She spoke through gritted teeth, as if this experience was grating on her every instinct as a mother.

"It's okay, ma'am. Doesn't happen often, let me tell you." His voice was strong and calming, and effortlessly put the woman's nerves at ease for a moment. "I'm Dante."

"Dante. I-I'm... I'm Jimmy!" He blushed furiously, his little rosy-cheeked face split ear to ear with a grin. "I... I notice you every Tuesday and I wanted to ask you something but it's really stupid."

"Can't be that stupid. And you had better ask now that you've put your mom through all this trouble, asking for a candy bar you probably don't even want." He shifted his weight on the opposite foot, hips cocked and eyes shining, shining blue.

"Can I have a jacket like that someday?" he offered in a half-hearted squeak. He stared at it. It looked ancient and old now up close, and riddled with strange marks and scuffs and at the very edges, sometimes he saw holes.

"Someday." Something in those frighteningly blue eyes softened, then grew warm somewhere inside. "Maybe someday, kiddo."

"Thank you," Jimmy's mother said softly to the quiet, red-coated man with the strangely haunted looking eyes. When she looked at Dante, Jimmy did not notice why his eyes seemed to ice over just for a moment before relaxing again. Jimmy was still looking at Dante, then looked down at his scuffed sneakers that were too tight for his feet. His mother was too poor to actually afford them, but she would buy him the candy bar even though he didn't really want it.

The reason why he looked at her so chillingly but then backed off from that unseen edge was that her eyes, like her son's, were green. She had said thank you, because her eyes had for an instant flashed with the color of blood - revealing her as a demon.

But the only instinct he detected in that look of hers was not to kill but to protect - her only child, her flesh and blood.

As the pair walked outside into the rain, Dante paid for the candy bar for the boy and his Tuesday night treasures. The boy was already imagining what his red coat would look like... and whether or not he would see him again next Tuesday. He already had another question framed in his mind.

Could Dante _fly_?


End file.
